Living Free...from animal products, exploitation and abuse

Living Free aims to encourage outreach (using various techniques) in India on reducing animal consumption, we are presently leafletting in 10 cities in India, some of which have been already done (see http://fiapo.org/view_news.php?viewid=12129 to read of Dan Phillip's experiences). To organise outreach in your area, contact varda@fiapo.org
Why Living Free? Do we have to choose between a healthy, fun and modern lifestyle or a fair, sustainable, compassionate one? No, you can have them both!

Who is a vegan? Just as a vegetarian avoids meat, a vegan is someone who avoids meat, eggs and dairy products for the benefit of animals, health or the environment. The world over more people are choosing a meat and dairy free diet including some of the best known celebrities, athletes and world leaders.

Most people learn about the horrors that animals in the food industry are put through and find the treatment unacceptable. Animals in the food and dairy industries spend their entire life in confinement, denied natural behavior and killed by brutal slaughter methods. By learning more about the life and suffering endured by them, we realize how each choice we make, can impact the life of another.

Choosing a well planned diet free of animal products also reduces your carbon footprint and is a great way to stay fit. People have a number of reasons to choose a vegan lifestyle, we have given some here.

The question is not,
Can they reason? nor,
Can they talk? but,
Can they suffer?-Jeremy Bentham
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals & Legislation, 1789

It’s compassionate

The animals who we eat are treated so abusively that similar treatment of dogs or cats would be grounds for animal cruelty charges.

As more people get aware of the practices of the meat and dairy industries, they are finding it unethical to consume products that come from there. Many people also feel it is unnecessary to take another’s life for their personal consumption for food or clothes.

Animals are often kept in cramped and filthy cages and sheds where they cannot move around or perform their natural behaviors. Many end up suffering from serious health problems and even death because they are selectively bred to grow or produce milk or eggs at a far greater rate than their bodies are capable of coping with.

Slaughterhouses looking to maximize profits, try to ‘process’ the maximum number of animals the fastest. In other words they try to kill as many animals as possible in the least amount of time. Often animals have not lost consciousness before their limbs are hacked off or they are skinned.

If you care for animals, choosing a vegan diet is the best thing you can do for them, you are making a real difference with every meal!

It’s better for the environment

Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical meat intensive diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ‘products’ to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet’s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals

Climate change is the most serious challenge facing the human race“The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.”- FAO of the United Nations Livestock’s Long Shadow, 2006

It’s better for health

As rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, juvenile hypertension, and other life-threatening conditions skyrocket in India, many researchers and medical experts come to the same conclusion: A vegetarian/vegan diet can help protect your health and even reverse some diseases, including the most common one—heart disease.

It’s delicious

A yum macroni bake made without any meat or dairy products: Sushmitha, a vegan from Bangalore blog.veganosaurus.com, Cookies and cupcake photos are from Rithika Ramesh a vegan Baker based in Mumbai http www.thegreenstove.com

In India it’s the easiest thing to do! Many Indian dishes are naturally vegan, or can easily be made vegan with a few substitutes. Many familiar foods have vegan versions – and more often than not you simply skip the fattening cheese butters and ghee. Going vegetarian or vegan does not mean you have to give up the tastes you love. The variety of vegan food available in shops and restaurants is growing all the time, there are vegan cakes chocolates and biscuits available today.

“A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows". George Bernard Shaw

Why not?

Choosing to live a life free from animal products means choosing a path that is better for people, animals and the environment. In fact, there are so many good reasons to reject meat, eggs and dairy products and so many delicious animal free alternatives that the real question is not ‘why vegan?’ but ‘why not?’.

"All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?" -Buddha

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi

"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." - Leonardo da Vinci

"By eating 2 fewer meat dishes a week, the saving in grain would feed 225 million people every year." - OneEarth.org

This campaign is a partnership between FIAPO and A Well Fed World.We acknowledge the support of the Chitrabhanu family (Mumbai) for this campaign. We also acknowledge the strategic guidance of Dan Phillips, Jon Camp and Nick Cooney in shaping this campaign.